Sunsat, South Africa's first satellite

Spaceteq through the absorption of SunSpace has its origins in the SunSat satellite programme of the Stellenbosch University. Sunsat, South Africa's first satellite was developed completely by a local South African team of engineers. Most of the team who designed and developed SunSat forms the core of Spaceteq today.

The company resulted from a 1991 initiative by the Computer and Control Systems Group of the electrical and electronic engineering department of the university to establish a post-graduate research group in satellite systems. This led to the Electronic Systems Laboratory and the intake of the first students in 1992. More than 100 students, in collaboration with engineers, were involved in the development of the first major project, the SunSat satellite, and over 50 Masters and PhD degrees were awarded during that time.

In February 1999 SunSat was launched by the American space agency, NASA, and the satellite successfully operated in space, fulfilling all mission objectives.